"Sylvia is in many different dimensions a self made, inspirational person who continues to grow and develop. As a scholar, a mother and wife, an intellect, an entrepreneur, a lawyer, a visionary Executive Director/CEO of the Kentucky League of Cities and the national founder and presdient of the NewCities Institute, she is absolutely absorbed with promoting more informed citizenship, and with revitalizing American democratic ideas in a dynamic and challenging 21st Century context."